


Putting Pen To Paper

by liseuse



Category: Pamela Dean's The Secret Country trilogy/Tam Lin
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-18
Updated: 2011-07-18
Packaged: 2017-10-21 15:03:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,235
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/226524
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/liseuse/pseuds/liseuse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>My thanks go to my wonderful beta, <a href="http://wrdnrd.dreamwidth.org/profile"><img/></a><a href="http://wrdnrd.dreamwidth.org/"><b>wrdnrd</b></a> who Ameri-picked this for me, and then had her wicked way with my commas. She deserves a prize for that last! All remaining mistakes being to me.</p>
    </blockquote>





	Putting Pen To Paper

**Author's Note:**

  * For [paperwar](https://archiveofourown.org/users/paperwar/gifts).



> My thanks go to my wonderful beta, [](http://wrdnrd.dreamwidth.org/profile)[**wrdnrd**](http://wrdnrd.dreamwidth.org/) who Ameri-picked this for me, and then had her wicked way with my commas. She deserves a prize for that last! All remaining mistakes being to me.

The trouble, it seemed to Ruth, was not in finding _something_ to study. Everything was very interesting, lit her mind up, until she opened the books about it and then she realised that she didn’t care that much about it at all. Writing a history of the Green Caves had been a perfectly fine reason for coming to the library, but it was boring when she was actually sitting at a desk in the Reading Room with a pile of texts in front of her. The trouble was, in fact, in finishing something that had once been interesting and now felt like a placeholder before her life began again.

“Focus, you dimwitted child of dust.” Ruth muttered to herself, under her breath, and picked up her pen again. “Write one page. Just one. Then you can read Randolph’s letter.”

\--

“… so, as you see, dear brother, everything is going fine. I am managing to plod along in astronomy, and your notes about EvoPsych made my lecture seem almost comprehensible. Don’t work yourself too hard, E.”

Ellen dropped her pen down on the desk and absently rubbed her wrist. Then she carefully folded the letter and put it in her notebook.

“There you are! I’ve been looking all over for you. Did you forget we were having dinner in Dunbar?”

“Oh, gosh, sorry, Rina, I lost track of the time.” Ellen said as she turned around in her chair.

“Another letter?” Rina said and leaned against the desk.

“Just to Patrick. I got an annoyed note in the mail today, asking why I hadn’t replied to his last missive.” Ellen smiled, and reached across the desk for her copy of _Paradise Lost_. “I don’t think he believes they work us hard here.”

“Ah yes, nothing worthwhile happens in small parochial colleges in the Midwest. I remember the lecture.”

Ellen grinned quickly, and shoved her notebook in her bag. Standing she gave Rina a peck on the cheek. “Come on, if we hurry there might be something left for dinner. I’ll buy you a chocolate cup to make up for being so absent-minded”

\--

“Ah, Milady Ruth,” Chalcedony said as she spied Ruth leaving the Reading Room. “I found that volume you were asking after, hidden at the bottom of the Special Collection staircase.”

“The staircase?” Ruth said, quirking an eyebrow. “I suppose there are stranger places for something to be found, although I admit that I don’t think I could name one right now.”

Chalcedony laughed. “The books, I fear, migrate. Anyway, I have placed it in your pigeon-hole so you can use it in the morning.”

“Chalcedony, you are a marvel.” Ruth smiled. “Let us hope the book is worth the trouble.”

\--

“Ellen, your mail is on your desk.” Rina called round the corner to where Ellen was trying to tame her hair. “You have another thick envelope from Patrick.”

“Oh good,” came Ellen’s muffled reply. “I wonder what disparaging remarks he has to make about the practicality of an English Literature degree this time.”

Rina laughed, and fished under her bed for a textbook. “Maybe he has all the answers for your Astronomy final.”

“That would be helpful.” Ellen grinned as she came round the corner. “Unlikely though. I may get a philosophical treatise on how we’ve viewed astronomy over the years.”

“I look forward to hearing it.” Rina said, and gathered up her bag and coat. “Alas my love, I must leave you now. The glorious prospect of two hours of German ruft meinen Namen.”

Ellen snagged her shoes from under her chair and reached for her coat. “Give me two seconds to pack my notebook and I’ll walk down with you. I should just have time for a coffee before meeting Professor Davison.”

\--

“… and thus endeth this missive my darling.  
Yours, with great affection, Randolph.

P.S. Oh, I near forgot the most important news of the letter. Indeed, its entire purpose for being sent. Fence and I shall be near the library on a mission in fifteen days or so. Would you happen to be free at all?”

Ruth sat on her bed and laughed until she nearly cried. “Silly goose of a man,” she managed to chuckle.

“Randolph, dearest,

I am as free as a bird, and you know it. They do not actually chain us to the desks of Heathwill Library. I can leave at will. Descend whenever, and for as long as you wish. I am getting nothing of any great import accomplished as it is. Perhaps a visit from a face I long to see will speed me along.

Yours, lovingly, Ruth.”

\--

“… so stop being such a condescending prig, Patrick. I did not take Astronomy because I didn’t want to subject myself to ‘hard’ Math. I took it because I wanted to see how different the stars were between here and there. And don’t be deliberately obtuse about where there is. I can practically see you rolling your eyes from here.”

Ellen groaned as she looked up and saw the clock. Turning from her desk she said, “why is that writing to my brother always takes forever?”

Rina looked up from Ellen’s copy of _Possession_. “Perhaps because he sends you fifteen page letters and you feel obliged to reply to every single one of his points?”

“Hah!” Ellen laughed. “A hit, a most palpable hit.”

Rina attempted a bow from her sitting position and nearly dislodged the mug of tea she was holding. “Come to bed,” she said pleadingly. “It’s nearly half past eleven. Surely you can finish berating Patrick for his idiocy in the morning?”

Ellen stood and stretched. “If only he was an idiot. He’s entirely too clever for his own good. But bed does sound an excellent plan. I’ll just brush my teeth.”

\--

“Randolph!” Ruth said as she flew from the steps of the library. “You’re early!”

“Ooof,” Randolph pretended to stagger as Ruth launched herself into his arms. “They’re not starving you then.”

“Don’t be impertinent,” Ruth grinned and swatted him on the arm. “I keep telling you it isn’t a prison. I like libraries. Although, I do like them better when they have you in them.”

Randolph smiled and leaned down to kiss Ruth. “I like everywhere better when you are there.”

Ruth waited until the kiss was finished before she pretended to gag. It was, she thought, a sign of personal development.

\--

“Sowernam, therefore, has merged female entrance into the pamphlet market, pamphlet economics, and the early modern tradition of commenting upon and responding to texts as she takes part in one of the early modern period's most famous pamphlet wars.”

  
“And, done!” Ellen exclaimed triumphantly before tugging the paper out of her typewriter. “One finished paper.”

“Excellent,” Rina smiled. “Now all you have to do is cram for that Spanish final and you’re home free.”

“I hate you,” Ellen said glumly. “Why did I come to college? Why didn’t I stay and farm with my family? I could have had chickens and goats and a horse.”

“But you wouldn’t have had me.” Rina winked as she straightened Ellen’s papers. She tugged her up from the chair. “And I think I’m a better catch than a goat.”

“Perhaps,” Ellen admitted as she flopped down on the bed. “The pygmy ones are really cute though,” she added through a yawn.

Rina laughed and pulled the covers over them both. “Can’t snuggle with one though.”


End file.
